US strike in Syria kills al-Qaeda-linked planner, hints at changing militant networks
Members of Syria’s al-Qaeda branch, Huras ad-Din, have been joining Ansar al-Islam as US drone strikes have continued to pick off Huras ad-Din's leaders, a report to the UN Security Council noted in July.
WASHINGTON — The US military claimed credit Tuesday for an airstrike said to have killed a suspected member of Ansar al-Islam in Syria on Oct. 2, marking an apparent shift from its usual approach targeting another, more prominent al-Qaeda branch in the country.
US Central Command, which oversees all American military operations in the Middle East, said in a press release that Muhammad Abd-al-Wahhab al-Ahmad was a "senior al-Qaeda affiliated attack planner" from Ansar al-Islam.
“US forces in the Middle East remain postured to disrupt and defeat efforts by terrorists to plan, organize and conduct attacks,” CENTCOM’s commander, US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, said in a statement.
Why it matters: The strike was unusual in that it targeted Ansar al-Islam, a known but relatively minor Sunni jihadist faction within Syria's civil war. The group's origins date back to the early days of the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
